Fed scientist admits trying to smuggle human pathogens to China

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OTTAWA — A government scientist pleaded guilty Wednesday to trying to smuggle human pathogens to China as part of an elaborate plan to surreptitiously commercialize the government’s intellectual property.

Dr. Klaus Nielsen was arrested in October 2012 with 17 vials of potentially lethal brucella bacteria placed on ice in a kid’s lunch bag and stowed in his suitcase as he prepared to leave Ottawa.

Nielsen, a top scientist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, had founded a private company with another researcher in his lab.

A U.S. company — with whom the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had a research-sharing agreement — had developed a method of testing for brucella infection in animals with research Nielsen had helped develop.

Court heard Nielsen’s private company lifted production details of the testing kits from the American company and used the information to start production of a similar product in China, which sold for less than the American version.

There is no evidence, however, that Nielsen profited from the business venture.